The New Approach to Organic Growth

Search behaviour is changing, and businesses can no longer rely on traditional SEO alone to attract potential customers. Although website rankings may remain stable, the number of people clicking through to websites is falling as Google’s AI features provide answers directly on search results pages.

Between January and April 2026, 68% of Google searches in the US reportedly ended without a click. At the same time, more B2B buyers are turning to AI chatbots to research products and services rather than starting with a traditional Google search.

This means brands need to build visibility across more than their own websites. Search engines and AI platforms draw information from a wider range of sources, including Reddit discussions, YouTube videos, customer reviews, LinkedIn posts and comparison websites.

These channels now form an important part of an effective organic growth strategy. They also influence which businesses potential customers consider when comparing their options.

Businesses that focus exclusively on their own websites risk missing opportunities to appear across the wider range of platforms buyers use. SEO therefore needs to cover several channels, with each one supporting a different part of the customer journey.

Search Visibility Is Becoming More Fragmented

Research carried out by Ross Simmonds and AirOps for the State of B2B AI Discovery 2026 report analysed around 380,000 AI-generated answers across 81 enterprise software topics and six AI platforms.

One important finding was that product and company websites remain the leading source of AI citations. Vendor websites, software directories and integration platforms accounted for between 52% of citations on Perplexity and 72% on Gemini. Review websites contributed a further 9% to 21%.

However, these figures include competitors and third-party directories, not just a company’s own website. Businesses are therefore competing with other brands for visibility, even within the same category.

The research also found that different AI platforms rely on different sources.

Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode use information from live Google Search results, while standalone AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity have their own retrieval systems.

This creates noticeable differences in the websites and platforms they cite.

Google’s AI features draw more heavily on social media and community content. Around 7% of their citations came from platforms such as YouTube and LinkedIn, compared with 0.3% or less for ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.

Reddit featured in 52% of AI Mode answers that included citations and 39% of AI Overview answers. ChatGPT cited Reddit in 21% of its answers, while Claude did not include it in the results covered by the study.

YouTube appeared in 47% of AI Mode answers and 38% of AI Overview answers, but was almost absent from ChatGPT and Claude citations. LinkedIn appeared in 13% of AI Mode answers, 9% of AI Overviews and 6% of Perplexity results.

Review platform G2 was more consistent, appearing in between 23% and 30% of answers across five of the six platforms.

These findings suggest that AI visibility is not a single measure. A business may perform well in Google’s AI results but have little presence in ChatGPT, or the other way around. Combining all platforms into one visibility score can hide these differences.

How to Build a Stronger Organic Growth Strategy

Businesses need to understand which sources influence each search platform and make sure their content appears in the places their audiences trust.

Rather than focusing entirely on website optimisation, an effective strategy should develop several layers of organic visibility.

1. Improve the Website Pages You Already Own

AI search is becoming an increasingly important part of the B2B buying journey. According to G2, 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their research in an AI chatbot more often than Google, compared with 29% a year earlier.

However, Google remains a major source of search traffic. It accounts for around three-quarters of desktop searches, while its AI Overviews reach approximately 2.5 billion monthly users. A further one billion people use AI Mode.

Traditional search rankings still matter, but achieving a high position does not automatically mean a page will be cited in an AI-generated answer.

Product pages remain particularly important. Gemini, for example, directs 72% of its citations to vendor and product-related domains. This makes clear and informative website content an important part of any AI visibility strategy.

Comparison pages and list-based articles also play a significant role. The research found that 84 of the 100 most-cited URLs were comparison pages or listicles. Together, these pages received more than 66,000 citations.

This gives businesses an opportunity to influence how AI tools describe their products and compare them with competitors.

Many companies concentrate their resources on publishing new blog posts while allowing their product and comparison pages to become outdated. However, improving existing pages that already attract citations may deliver greater value.

What businesses can do: Identify the ten most-cited comparison pages and listicles in their industry. Review how their brand and products are presented, then create their own detailed comparison pages featuring their three main competitors.

2. Build a Presence in Relevant Online Communities

Reddit was the most frequently cited external domain in the research, generating 159,000 citations across 12,500 unique URLs.

Its influence also extends beyond AI search. Reddit discussions regularly appear in Google results, allowing people to discover conversations through traditional search before those discussions are used as sources in AI-generated answers.

The platform’s logged-out audience, which largely arrives through search engines, increased by 27% year on year in the second quarter of 2026. It reached 77.7 million users, compared with 52.6 million logged-in users.

This demonstrates how online communities can support visibility across several channels at once.

However, the importance of Reddit varies between industries. Community platforms accounted for 5% of citations in the SEO software category, compared with 14% for endpoint detection and response security tools.

Citation patterns can also change quickly. After reports that ChatGPT was reducing its use of Reddit, the researchers extended their tracking and found that its Reddit citation rate fell from 21% in July to 10% in August. Google’s AI platforms continued to cite the platform more frequently.

Businesses should therefore avoid relying on a single discussion or viral post to generate attention. Regular, useful contributions across relevant communities are more likely to create a lasting presence.

What businesses can do: Participate in relevant Reddit communities and discussions by answering questions and sharing helpful information. Monitor citations each week to identify changes in how AI platforms use community content.

3. Use LinkedIn to Influence Industry Conversations

LinkedIn is particularly relevant to Google’s AI search features. The research found that it appeared in 13% of AI Mode answers, 9% of AI Overview results and 6% of Perplexity answers. It was not cited by ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude in the study.

Across the B2B software categories analysed, social media accounted for 6% of citations, making it the second-largest source after brand and product content.

LinkedIn gives business leaders, specialists and industry professionals an opportunity to share their knowledge and influence conversations within their sectors. Google’s AI features can then use this information when generating answers.

The focus should not simply be on increasing followers, reactions or comments. Businesses need to consider whether their content is helping establish their expertise and whether it is appearing in relevant AI-generated results.

What businesses can do: Identify the industry questions they want their brand to be associated with. Encourage company leaders and specialists to publish useful LinkedIn content around those topics regularly, then monitor whether it appears in Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode.

4. Create Videos That Answer Buyers’ Questions

YouTube is another important source for Google’s AI search features. It appeared in 47% of AI Mode answers and 38% of AI Overview answers included in the research.

Interestingly, YouTube accounted for just 0.3% of Gemini’s citations, despite both platforms belonging to Google. This highlights the different ways individual AI products find and select information.

Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode are connected to its search engine. They use a process known as query fan-out, which involves running several related searches to gather information for a single answer. Videos that already perform well in traditional search can therefore become useful sources for AI-generated results.

Businesses should consider the questions people ask before they are ready to choose a particular product or service. Content aimed only at existing customers may miss opportunities to reach people who are still researching their options.

Comparison videos, product alternatives and best-of guides can help attract this audience.

What businesses can do: Publish videos that answer common buyer questions, compare products and explain available alternatives. Use titles that reflect the wording people are likely to enter into search engines.

5. Keep Review Profiles Accurate and Up to Date

Customer review platforms are particularly important for standalone AI assistants.

Claude and Perplexity obtain around one-fifth of their citations from review websites. For Claude, third-party citations are largely made up of review platforms.

G2 appeared in 30% of Claude answers that included citations, while Capterra accounted for 13%. Gartner and PeerSpot each appeared in approximately 9%.

The importance of reviews also differs between industries. Review websites accounted for 8% of citations in managed database software, compared with 25% in recruitment and applicant tracking systems.

Buyer behaviour supports these findings. G2’s 2026 research found that review websites were the leading source influencing B2B software shortlists, at 38%, narrowly ahead of AI chatbots at 37%.

This makes review profiles more than a place to collect customer feedback. They can also act as an ongoing information source for AI platforms.

Businesses should treat their profiles as part of their wider search strategy rather than updating them only when launching a product or running a marketing campaign.

What businesses can do: Assign someone to manage review profiles, check that company information is accurate and set a regular target for collecting and responding to customer reviews.

Deciding Which Channels to Prioritise

Building visibility across every platform takes time and resources. Businesses should therefore identify where their potential customers search before deciding how to divide their efforts.

One useful starting point is to ask customers which AI tools they use during sales conversations and onboarding. If they mainly use Google, community discussions, videos and social media may deserve more attention. If they rely on ChatGPT or Claude, website content and review profiles may be more important.

Businesses should also examine the citation patterns within their own industry. The research found that review citations varied by as much as 3.3 times between categories, while community citations differed by 2.5 times.

For example, a managed database software company that follows a recruitment technology marketing strategy could end up spending too much on review platforms, which account for only 8% of citations in its category. Meanwhile, it could overlook community platforms, which account for 13%.

The right approach will also depend on the size of the team.

For smaller businesses and solo teams: Start with the company’s own website and one additional channel that has a strong influence in its industry. Maintaining a smaller number of active channels is better than spreading resources too thinly.

For teams of three to five people: Develop a second channel that reaches a different type of AI search platform. For example, a business already active on Reddit could start investing more time in review profiles to improve its visibility across standalone AI assistants. Assigning someone to manage reviews can help prevent information from becoming outdated.

For larger teams: Give each organic channel a dedicated owner and assign someone to monitor citations across individual AI platforms. This makes it easier to identify changes in how different systems select their sources.

Measuring Organic Visibility Across AI Platforms

Businesses need to look beyond a single overall AI visibility score. Tracking results separately for each platform provides a clearer picture of where a brand is gaining or losing exposure.

The research recommends creating a consistent set of at least 100 prompts and running them on a regular schedule. Businesses can then measure how often their brand is cited and what share of citations it receives across each AI platform.

It is also worth monitoring sentiment. The AirOps research used a 100-point sentiment scale and found scores ranging from 81 on Perplexity to 69 on Claude for the same set of prompts.

Businesses should also set alerts for significant changes. A week-on-week movement of 20% could indicate that a platform has changed the sources it uses, making it important to investigate promptly.

AI visibility should ultimately be connected to the performance measures businesses already use. These include branded search activity, referral traffic and leads or sales generated through content.

Why a Long-Term Approach Matters

Building an effective organic growth strategy takes time. The first few months may involve updating existing comparison pages, improving review profiles and establishing performance benchmarks.

However, these efforts can build on each other over time. More useful website content can improve the chances of being cited, while active communities, relevant videos and accurate review profiles can strengthen visibility across different search platforms.

Businesses that monitor each channel separately will also be better placed to respond when AI platforms change the sources they rely on.

The main lesson is that organic growth is no longer limited to ranking well in Google. Brands need to appear across the websites, communities and platforms that influence how customers research and compare their options.

Traditional search helps people discover a business, but a wider organic presence can help make it one of the options they choose.